The Shackled City, Day 3 (2006-09-22, 6:30 PM) Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar

Players (Characters)
Scott (Rain)
Jeremy observed while rolling up a character
Catherine (Amber)
Tony (Roland)
Rachel (Horkina)
DM: Tom (Garlen)

The party returned to Jzadirune, deciding to clear the upper level before taking the elevator again. A strange giggling sound came from the room at the bottom of the stairs. The walls there were covered with copper masks that were magically making laughing sounds. One mask spoke when approached: "Welcome to Jzadirune, behold the wonder! But beware, ye who seek to plunder. Traps abound and guardians peer beyond every portal, behind every gear." Two round doors with gnomish glyphs (the letters J and A) were set into the south wall. One door was jammed partway open, and a faint light shone from inside. Rain stepped through the door and was attacked by two more skulks, but the group retaliated and finished off the skulks easily. Round tunnels were carved into the south and east walls of this room, and small piles of rubble were left over from their construction.

To the south and east was a small room where a skulk waited to ambush the party. He was quickly dispatched, and rain discovered a secret door behind him. In the next room, a silver cage rested atop a large chest between doors marked R and N. Inside the cage was a rat that perked up at the name "Starbrow". Before the party approached, the chest spoke out in a language Horkina knew as Undercommon. She was able to negotiate with this mimic, convincing it to trade the rat and cage for some rations. The mimic warned that there was another like it, but mean, and it had been taken to guard a treasure hoard. The party returned Starbrow to Keygan's shop and then headed back to the south tunnel.

To the south was a large, majestic hall with lights dancing along its length. As the party walked through the room, a pair of skulks jumped out from behind the southernmost pillars. One threw a thunderstone at Roland while another stabbed at Garlen. They were quickly taken down. Doors leading out of this room were marked R, U, and E, and two hallways led both east and west. Roland discovered a small music box in a pile of rubble to the south beside another round tunnel. This tunnel led to a small room with an assortment of treasure, including ten chain shirts, some coins, and a pair of scrolls, all inside a small chest hidden in the corpse of a carrion crawler.

To the west was a theater where a set of illusions performed a short play about Willowbough the dryad and Silverarrow, her beloved ranger companion, and their fight with Moontusk, the ranger's bitter wereboar nemesis. Rain and Garlen searched the stage and found a small trapdoor. When they opened it, an arm reached out and grabbed Rain, dragging him into the pit. Horkina and Garlen jumped in, fighting the foul Choker and eventually dropping it. In the pit was a small metal rod with a J glyph on the end. Experimentation showed this to be a key to the door marked J.

A small tunnel to the north led to a room with a partly invisible skulk. It was dealt a painful blow and quickly surrounded, leading it to cower in the corner and cry out in surrender. Rain moved to kill it, but Amber stepped in his way. Eventually the party accepted the skulk's surrender and gathered some information from it regarding the layout of the dungeon. This skulk, called 'Slick', had apparently been infected with the Vanishing, so he was taken to the church of St. Cuthbert.

The party returned to Jzadirune and discovered that they'd secured both sides of the same door, so Rain experimented to see if he could disable the potent trap on the door. Unfortunately, all he managed to do was trigger some poison gas that reduced his Dexterity. The party returned to Cauldron to report their findings, rest, and recover.